Comments on: NEVILLE BROTHERS / “With God On Our Side”http://www.kalamu.com/bol/2008/02/11/neville-brothers-%e2%80%9cwith-god-on-our-side%e2%80%9d/
a conversation about black musicMon, 13 May 2019 17:53:47 +0000hourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.8.10By: Mariettahttp://www.kalamu.com/bol/2008/02/11/neville-brothers-%e2%80%9cwith-god-on-our-side%e2%80%9d/#comment-389074
Thu, 20 Nov 2014 11:34:16 +0000http://www.kalamu.com/bol/2008/02/09/neville-brothers-%e2%80%9cwith-god-on-our-side%e2%80%9d/#comment-389074I am really impressed along with your writing talents and also with
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]]>By: Kiini Iburahttp://www.kalamu.com/bol/2008/02/11/neville-brothers-%e2%80%9cwith-god-on-our-side%e2%80%9d/#comment-43921
Wed, 13 Feb 2008 15:54:55 +0000http://www.kalamu.com/bol/2008/02/09/neville-brothers-%e2%80%9cwith-god-on-our-side%e2%80%9d/#comment-43921I love this album. Mtume, like you said, it’s a winner from the first song to the last. I didn’t know that these two songs were Bob Dylan’s–I don’t know much about the man, but clearly he can write a good song.

This post reminds me of a recent interaction I had with Ua (my five-year-old daughter). I was doing her hair and thought it would be okay to have her watch Extreme Makeover: Home Edition online to distract her from how long it would take for me to comb out the knots.

I thought of it as a show about building houses, I didn’t realize that the show can be highly educational about the life circumstances of struggling (usually white) Americans. The first episode we watched was about a 8-year-old girl with cancer. Ua had a lot of questions about cancer, what is it, what happened to her hair, etc. We got through that one okay.

Were I wise, I would have stopped there and finished the child’s hair the next day. It was late and I wanted to finish, so we decided to watch the next one. It was about a Marine who had finished his tour of duty and gone home to be with his wife and four children. He was asked later to go to Iraq–he didn’t have to, his service was complete, but he wanted to fight for freedom, support the Marines, and serve his country.

He led a team who rode around in tanks finding bombs. They were rushing to the aid of a group of Marines who were underfire when they set off a bomb. Tank overturned and some piece of metal severed his leg. He lost his leg, won a whole bunch of medals, went home, fought through depression, got physical therapy and a prosthesis, lost his wife, and became the full-time, solo parent of his four kids.

By the time the Extreme Makeover folks found him he was living in pretty bad conditions. His four children–ranging in age from nine to three (I think)–shared one room and a set of bunk beds. Patches of floor were missing throughout the house, doors falling off hinges. The floor was on different levels so there were areas of the house he couldn’t access. In his front yard his American flag and his Marine flag was flying high.

Ua cried through the majority of the show. She didn’t understand why the man lost his leg. Why did he go back to the war when he didn’t have to? Why did the mother leave? Who would take care of the kids if something happened to the father? Who would visit the father if he had to go back to the hospital? She cried and said her heart hurt. I kept saying let’s turn it off, but she said no and kept watching.

The reason the man gave for fighting was to fight for freedom. I didn’t know what to tell Ua about that. She was already traumatized about what the man had been through, to diminish the nobility of his cause seemed cruel. He truly believed in what he did and said he would go and fight again.

As the show reached its end, Ua said she could look at his leg without getting scared. I think we’re like that about war. Her reaction was a human reaction to the horrors of war and loss, but as we stare at it longer and longer our original reaction gets deadened.

I don’t know what to do about war and I don’t know what to tell my daughter about war. I know it’s not black and white. This post about “God on Our Side” reminded me about this war moment in my home and I guess the story just wanted to come out.

]]>By: Ravenelvenladyhttp://www.kalamu.com/bol/2008/02/11/neville-brothers-%e2%80%9cwith-god-on-our-side%e2%80%9d/#comment-43882
Wed, 13 Feb 2008 02:02:18 +0000http://www.kalamu.com/bol/2008/02/09/neville-brothers-%e2%80%9cwith-god-on-our-side%e2%80%9d/#comment-43882I’ve been thinking about this song for a few weeks now. It’s an incredibly soothing, healing song due to the use of the gongs and reverberations. And the lyrics can’t be more timely. Thank you for posting it this week. I’ll track down the CD.
]]>By: riquehttp://www.kalamu.com/bol/2008/02/11/neville-brothers-%e2%80%9cwith-god-on-our-side%e2%80%9d/#comment-43831
Tue, 12 Feb 2008 08:25:02 +0000http://www.kalamu.com/bol/2008/02/09/neville-brothers-%e2%80%9cwith-god-on-our-side%e2%80%9d/#comment-43831I tapped into this site because I saw something about Judas, as well as having lived for some time in New Orleans. Anyway, I believe there’s a whole lot to the Judas story than meets the eye. If anyone’s interested, some of this information can be found at: thehouseofjudas.blogspot.com
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